


Project Partners

by demigirlABC



Category: Fallout - Fandom, Fallout New Vegas
Genre: College AU, Enemies to Friends to Lover, M/M, Modern AU, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-03-31 06:06:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13968951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demigirlABC/pseuds/demigirlABC
Summary: Art history was not a class he wanted to take. At all. But he needed the social science credit for his major. The other options weren’t ideal. Whereas art history was the most tolerable one. Not to mention the schools adviser heavily pushed this course onto his schedule. “It’s a history course! You’ll love it!”Edward Sallow and Joshua Graham both get stuck taking an art history class neither of them want to take.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to see certain content you gotta make it yourself. 
> 
> Writing Edward/Caesars character is like pulling teeth without numbing your mouth first.

There was nothing really special about Edward. He was a five foot four, twenty two year old man with pale skin and toe-headed hair that laid on his head in soft curls. Self absorbed and a little bit cocky. Currently enrolled in a masters program to get a degree in History. Specifically ancient Roman history. The only interesting thing about him was the fact he was the leader of one of the colleges fraternities. Nicknamed “The Legion” by the schools population. The reason being that the only students allowed entry to the fraternity were people studying ancient Roman history. Sometimes they can be seen walking around the fraternity house in togas made out of bed sheets. Rumor has it while partaking in frat activities Edward calls himself “Caesar”.  
  
He grumbled the entire way to his last class of the day, the art history course he was going to be wasting his spring semester taking. Thinking about all the snotty art majors he’d be in class with caused him to wrinkle his nose in disgust. He eventually found the lecture hall. Pulling out his phone just to double check his memory. His phone screen was shattered and somehow slightly bent despite having an expensive protective case. It was a miracle it still functioned. Edward squinted trying to see his schedule past the cracks on his screen. He was right (as always) and this was his lecture hall. He slipped his phone back into his pocket before stepping into the room.  
  
Most of his classmates were already there and had chosen their seats. Leaving a very sparse selection of choices for Edward. This was a very important decision because this would be his seat the rest of the semester. An unspoken rule among classmates. Edward scanned the room to see if he could spot anyone he knew. His eyes landed on a man sitting in the middle row. Sitting in the last seat of the row, near the window. He had tan skin. Dark hair that was combed and styled neatly. Not a single hair seemed out of place. The opposite to Edwards natural curls and waves that never wanted to behave. (He had given up on taming the “beast” years ago.) His outfit was plain and modest. A white dress shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows. And tucked into a pair of black slacks. It seemed a little formal for everyday college attire. But, Edward had seen weirder. The most striking thing about the man were his eyes. They were an icy blue. Very handsome, if Edward was being honest with himself.  
  
Edward actually recognized him. He had only seen him in passing around campus. Usually preaching or passing out pamphlets about his religion. (In which Edward would duck his head and quickly pass by.) But when he usually saw him was on his way to his Latin class he had been taking last semester. The man was in the lecture before Edward’s and they would often pass each other as Edward would enter the lecture hall.  
  
Edward squeezed his way past the other classmate in the row before plopping down in the empty seat next to the familiar face. The man was focusing intently on what he was reading. He perked up slightly in curiosity when hearing the sound of someone sitting next to him. He looked over and scanned Edward up and down. He smiled and lifted his hand in a friendly greeting type of manner. The other mans face fell. He seemed to recognize Edward. Probably from his fraternity reputation. Suddenly the man seemed, annoyed? Disgusted? It was hard to tell due to his poker face.  
  
“No.” Was all he said. Edward stared in shock. His mouth slightly ajar. That wasn’t very polite! Edward always imagined this man to be quite polite, since he was religious after all. But this threw him for a loop. Leaving his feelings hurt.  
  
The man started collecting his things to move seats. He stood up and looked around and quickly realized there was nowhere to go. He sighed loudly, slumping back into his seat in defeat. Dropping his things into a messy pile onto the table. Edward couldn’t help but grin, but managed to stifle his laugh.  
  
“I’m Edward Sallow.” He said, sticking his hand out. Still grinning. The man glanced at him. His brows furrowed.  
  
“I know who you are, Sallow.” He replied. Not hiding the irritation in his voice. “Your fraternity gets around.”  
  
“I still haven’t gotten your name.” Edward continues. The man furrows his brow more.  
  
“Joshua.” He replies.  
  
“Jjjjjooossshhhuuuaaaaaaaaa….?” Edward shakes his outstretched hand.  
  
“Graham. Joshua Graham.” He sighs before sitting up straight and shaking Edwards hand.  
  
“Nice to meet you, Josh!”  
  
“It’s Joshua.” He replied. Quickly letting go of Edwards hand. He shrugged.  
  
“Josh. Joshua. Same difference!” Edward said. Joshua didn’t reply. Only glared at him. HIs icy cold glare sent chill down Edwards spine. He smiled awkwardly to play off the tension. Joshua just stared at him for a moment before turning his attention to the front of the room. It looked like the teacher had began setting up their things. Edward plopped his bag onto the table and fished out his pen and notepad. Taking note how Joshua prodded slightly at his bag. Nudging it out of “his space”. Edward sighed. It was going to be a long semester.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -coughs up blood-  
> Hey after over a month heres chapter two. Not my strongest work but I wanted to get another chapter out. I promise chapter three will be stronger.

Joshua still didn't like Edward. His constant pestering wasn’t doing Edward any favors. However thanks to that constant pestering over the past few weeks Edward managed to squeeze some personal information out of Graham. Joshua, who begrudgingly told Edward the information to get him to shut up. Edward already had a decent idea of who Joshua was as a person just by looking at the condition his phone was in and whether or not he used a phone case. His phone was in perfect condition. Not a single scratch and crack. He didn’t even use a case! Not even one of those fancy screen protectors! How ballsy! This actually irritated Edward slightly. Where did he go off having a perfectly intact, undamaged phone without even using a case! Edward remembered that his phone is only beat up because one of his fraternity brothers threw his phone from the third story balcony. “To test the durability of his phone case.” 

Joshua was a twenty three year old Mormon from Utah who was studying Linguistics. That would explain why he was taking latin the previous semester. Edward also learned that Joshua had also been coerced by a school adviser to take art history to fulfill his social science credit. What a coincidence! 

Edward leaned forward on his elbows balancing his pen on his upper lip. Joshua paused his note taking for a moment to glance over at Edward. He scoffed in disgust causing Edward to side eye him. What? He was bored.

“Shouldn’t you be taking notes?” Edward asked. Trying to keep the pen from falling.

“Shouldn’t you?” Joshua retorted. Joshua’s hostility was starting to get on Edwards nerves. Edward didn’t stop staring until Joshua went back to note taking.

“As you recall from last week I took vote on how you wanted me to pick the partners for the final project.” Joshua glanced back over at Edward again. Edward stared in horror at their professor. Joshua couldn’t help but crack a slight smile. Managing to stifle his chuckle by coughing. Edwards pen clattered softly onto the table and he spun his chair to face Joshua.

“Final project?!” Edward hissed.

“He told us last week. You know, when you weren’t here. I do recall your fraternity did have quite the party. Playing hooky to cure a hangover perhaps?” Joshua replied. He was enjoying Edwards panic a little too much. Edward went slightly red in the face. 

“I--! No! I wasn’t--!” Edward sputtered. “Well--! I bet you weren’t such an angel that weekend either!” He added, pointing an accusing finger at him. Edward knew that last part was bluff. This man didn’t even drink coffee, let alone beer.

“But I was in class.” Joshua pointed out. Edward got slightly redder. He opened his mouth to retort but quickly shut it before crossing his arms and spinning his chair to face the front. Joshua smirked slightly. He shut up for once.

“To be honest, I wasn’t in the mood to hand pick them.” The professor explained. Waving a hand around lazily. Joshua felt bad for whoever got stuck with Edward. “And my internet was down last night so I couldn’t access a random number generator. So I decided that your partner will be the person who is sitting on your right.” The professor waved a hand towards the class. As a cue for them to start mingling as he rifled in his briefcase for the rubric for the project. The professors words were enough to wipe the smirk off of Joshua’s face. It made him go slightly pale and made his blood run cold. He sat on the edge of the table, which meant he had no one on his left. Meaning he was no one's “right”. And he already knew who was on his right.

Edward leaned on his elbows once more, but this time in Joshua’s “space”. A huge shit eating grin on his face and he leaned closer and closer. Joshua kept his gaze locked onto the white board at the front of the room. Eventually Edward was inches from Joshua’s face. That shit eating grin still plastered on his face.

“Hey. Partner."

Joshua was horrified. His thoughts moving a million miles per hour as he tried to figure out how he was going to get through this without failing. And Edward being three inches away from his face didn’t help. Joshua brought a hand up and roughly shoved Edward away. A little too roughly. Edward had almost fell backwards out of his chair. Joshua almost felt bad. Almost. Before his chair tipped over Edward managed to grab onto the edge of the table to catch himself. He shot Joshua a glare as he steadied himself.

“What the hell?!” Edward snapped.

“There is a thing called ‘personal space’ you know.” Joshua replied through gritted teeth. “Which is a concept you don't seem to understand.” He added before jabbing Edwards bag away from him. Edward crossed his arms and tried to look intimidating as Joshua began collecting his things and shoving them into his messenger bag. Snatching the rubric from the professor rather aggressively. Causing him to recoil slightly before handing the paper to Edward. Joshua flinged his bag over this shoulder before he began to storm off toward the door.

“Hey! I need some way to contact you.” Edward called. Joshua paused in his tracks before sighing heavily and turning around. Joshua snatched Edward’s pen and scribbled his email and cell phone number onto his rubric.

“Thank you very much!” Edward replied, with his signature shit eating grin. Joshua narrowed his eyes at him before slamming the pen back onto the table and rushing out of the room in a frustration. Edward stared at the closed door for a few moments before shoving his notebook and project rubric into his bag.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -drags myself out of a shallow grave- this chapter took way longer than I wanted. But here it is!! I hope you like it and I hope to get chapter four out soon!!

Joshua didn’t recall his drive home. He was swimming in a haze of frustration and panic. He was trying to figure out how in Gods name he was going to get a passing grade on this project. The final project, the grade that would determine if he passed. He didn’t even want to take the class. He just wanted to get it over with so he get that social science credit. 

He pulled into his apartment complex. Finally relieved to be home. Stepping out of his car, he began to dig around for his apartment keys. When he pulled his hand out of his pocket, it caused the keys to fall out into the mud. Joshua stared down at them for a few long seconds, before letting out an exhausted sigh. Almost as if he was going to start crying. He recollected himself and picked up his keys before dragging himself to his apartment.

Once inside, he kicked off his shoes and threw his bag down by the door. Joshua dragged himself over the couch and threw himself face first onto it. Lazily lifting an arm up to throw his keys onto the coffee table. 

The sound of the kitchen faucet being turned off and dishes being place into it was heard. Joshua made no effort to lift his head to loop up. He heard soft footsteps approach the kitchen’s open doorway.

“You’re home early.” Joshua finally picked his head up. Leaning against the open door frame of the kitchen was his roommate, Daniel. Drying his hands with a dish towel. Joshua stared at him for a moment before planting his face back into the cushion of the couch. 

“I had today off.” He replied, voice muffled by the couch. That was a lie. Right after storming out of class he called into work. He was too frustrated to deal with his terrible managers. It was a relief for now. His promise to work a double shift in the future would surly bit him in the ass later. Daniel sighed and stood up straight to toss the towel back into the kitchen. Crossing his arms and leaning on the door frame once more.

“What’d he do now?” He asked. Daniel was very well up to date about all the annoyances Edward gave Joshua.

“He didn’t do anything-- Not on purpose anyways.” Joshua groaned. Still refusing to lift his head. “We got our group partners for the final. And I’m stuck with him.” A long silence fell between the two before Joshua yelled into the cushion. “I’m going to fail.”

“Joshua. Don’t go making assumptions like that. He’s not trying to sabotage your grade. He probably isn’t happy about the situation either.” Joshua groaned louder. “Oh stop that.” Daniel replied. Joshua groaned one more time before laying completely still. Daniel sighed before disappearing into the kitchen to finish the dishes.

 

Edward didn’t go home right after class. He never really did. He always walked to the 7/11 that was near campus to pick up a large slushie and a bag of flamin’ hot cheetos. After that he would slowly make his way back to campus and take the long way to his frat house. Running into friends along the way. Wiping his cheeto dust covered fingers on the poor soul who happened to be nearby and wearing a white shirt.

He stood on the curb while he waited for the crosswalk to change. Observing the cars that drove by. He took a slurp from his slushie and thought about just making a run for it. The speed limit through campus was only twenty five. He’d survive getting struck by a car. Thankfully he used his better judgement (which he often never did.) and decided to stay on the curb until it was safe to cross. He stared intently at the sign on the other end of the street. As if staring would make it change faster.

“Geez. What's with that guy?” He grumbled to himself. Aggressively chewing on the straw of his slushie. The cross walk changed. Edward continued grumbling to himself as he crossed the street, still chewing on the straw. 

“I’m nothing but nice to the guy! And what to I get in return!? Unwarranted hostility!” He continued to grumble to himself all the way to the fraternity house.

The Fraternity house was a large, colonial style, three story home. With a large Balcony situated on the third floor of the front facing side. There was a large banner hanging from the front of the house as well. On the white cotton fabric in sloppy red paint read: “Caesar's Legion.” The banner was used to cover the actual name of the fraternity. Toilet paper littered the tree branches and the brushes around the building. Edward took another sip from his drink, while digging around in his pocket for the keys to the frat. 

He unlocked the door and set his slushie down on the wobbly table next to the door. He kicked off his sandals just as he heard the refrigerator door slam shut. Loud stomping footsteps came from the kitchen and a larger man practically slid around the corner. Once he regained his balance he pointed an accusing finger at Edward. 

“YOU!” He shouted. His voice echoing through the building. The man was the school's quarterback. Lanius. That wasn't his actual name of course. Everyone in “The Legion” got Latin names when inducted. Edward, being the head of the fraternity was nicknamed “Caesar”. Lanius was a tall buff man. The perfect build for a football player. Which he was. The star quarterback for the college. A full ride scholarship for playing on the team. He also was sporting a thick beard that he had grown out over the winter months. 

“YOU!” He shouted again. Edward looked around. There was clearly no one next to, or behind him that Lanius was pointing to. Lanius pulled out an empty styrofoam container, seemingly out of nowhere. “Lanius’ leftovers. DO NOT TOUCH CAESAR” scrawled onto the lid. (Edward could've sworn he had thrown it away.)

“You ate my leftovers!” Lanius shouted. “AGAIN!” Edward began sweating bullets.

“Who? Me? No! Of course not! Lanius I would never--!” Edward actually had eaten them. He was the only one who ate others food. Only the leftovers mind you. Besides-! Lanius’ leftovers had been sitting there for almost a week! They were going to go bad eventually.

“You're the only one who eats others food!” With that, Lanius quickly tosses aside the container. Which Edward had begun to assume Lanius dug it out of the garbage bin as proof. He watched and Lanius got into his tackling position.

“Now...now Lanius! Wait a second here! No need to do something has--” before Edward could finish, Lanius rammed into Edward. Tackling him into the front lawn of the fraternity. Edward felt a few of his bones pop. (A few getting dislodged out of place.) and maybe a rib or two cracked under Lanius’ weight.

Lanius stood up and brushed himself off. “Maybe think before eating others food.” Saying nothing more, he walked back into the house at a swift pace. Slamming the front door behind him. Edward let out a quiet wheeze. Laying pathetically in the grass as the air began to come back into his lungs. He tried to sit up, but was only met with pain. 

“....Fuuuccckkkk.” He whined, laying back down.

 

Joshua had eventually moved from the couch into his bedroom to continuing moping about. Much to Daniel’s relief. Daniel set aside a packet of chicken on the counter to let it thaw as he began to prepare the rest of dinner. He had asked Joshua what he wanted and all he got in reply was a groan of “agony”. Daniel had rolled his eyes and decided to cook the rest of the chicken that was in the freezer.

There was a soft knock on the wall behind Daniel. Causing him to turn around and look behind him at the doorway. Joshua was standing in the doorway. Daniel went back to cutting up some vegetables.

“Is baby done throwing his tantrum?” Daniel asked, tossing the chopped veggies into the saucepan. Joshua scowled at Daniel, his eyebrow twitching slightly in irritation. Daniel glanced over his shoulder at him and chuckled a little. “I’m just pushing your buttons, Joshua. What do you need?” Joshua let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his hair.

“I just wanted to see if you needed any help with dinner?” He asked, stepping into the kitchen. Daniel paused for a moment. He set the spatual down on the counter.

“Actually, yes. If it's not too much trouble. I have to return a call to one of the Elders at the church. If you could keep an eye on the vegetables and maybe cut up the chicken? That’d be wonderful.” Joshua nodded and switched places with Daniel in front of the stove.   
“I’ll only be a few minutes!” Daniel added, poking his head around the doorway before disappearing into his room. Joshua rolled his eyes. If his hunch was correct, he was calling the Elder incharge of the mission trips. So the call would last a half an hour at the shortest. Joshua pulled a knife out of the knife block and got to work.

Not long after he began to cut the chicken, he felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket. He closed his eyes and prayed it was his manager. He set the knife down and washed the residue the raw chicken left off his hands. Once he dried off his hands he pulled his phone out to see who had texted him. Immediately he furrowed his brows. It was from an unknown number. Quickly unlocking his phone and opening the messenger app and reading the message, he really began wishing it had been his manager. But instead he was greeted with a very cheerful message that read:

“hey josh! It’s me, ed! ur project partner!” Accompanied with an annoying amount of emojis. Begrudgingly Joshua went to the settings menu and added him in as a contact. Only calling him “Sallow.”


End file.
